ABOUT US

Grit City Magazine was founded on the notion that Tacoma has good stories to tell. We explore the places that define it, pay homage to the history that built it, and celebrate the people who make it what it is today. This is a city of makers and craftsmen, artists and philosophers, natives and newcomers, dreamers and doers, and above all, grit. If you have a story to tell, we want to hear it. Email us at: editor@gritcitymag.com.

OUR STORY

Grit City Magazine began telling Tacoma’s stories online in 2017. We share a lot on our site, even more on social media, and in September of 2018 our first print edition was made.

Our print publication is now produced quarterly with new issues going out in March, June, September, and December.

MEET THE TEAM

Sierra is one of those California transplants we all love to hate. But, in his defense, since moving to South Tacoma in 2015 he’s put his talents as a photographer and writer into celebrating the City of Destiny. If Sierra gets his way no mystery or tunnel in Tactown will go unexplored. He’s still good at keeping the secrets that need to be kept, though. He and his wife are parents to a toddler.

Sara grew up in Kitsap but visited Tacoma often enough as a kid to remember Pizza & Pipes. She and her high school soccer team also regularly got tromped on by Stadium High School. Sara became a Tacoma resident in 2012 and has no plans to leave anytime soon. She and her husband are parents to two teenage boys.

William Manzanares IV is the guy who originally helped the two of them get Grit City Magazine off the ground.

Here’s a bit more about the co-founder:

William Manzanares IV is about the closest thing you’ll find to a real life Michael Scott. He’s been an entrepreneur since he was a kid, selling stuff out of his room to his family.

When he wanted to learn more about fancy cigars, he flew a bunch of his employees to Nicaragua for five days. When he wanted to celebrate all the cool things he knew about Tacoma, he started Grit City Magazine. Though Will has since moved on to other ventures, he’s a good man to know. In fact, he was named one of South Sound Magazine‘s 40 under 40 in 2018. Find him at williammanzanares.com.

Blame those gorgeously oversized 11x14 magazines and 11x17 posters. It turns out shipping in a 13x18 envelope kicks it into a whole different category. At over a pound in weight it just isn’t cheap. If you’d like to avoid shipping costs please revisit the previous question.

Do you take guest contributions?

Yes! We love to have different voices help make Grit City Magazine, but here are two things to know:

All contributions are subject to editor approval. We’ll ask ourselves not only if something is high quality but if it’s an asset to our site.

We do not currently have a budget for freelancers. There are some stellar folks out there who’ve volunteered their time and talent to help this project keep going, but we fully understand that not everyone is willing or able to do that.

Do you have an office?

Kinda. We use the coworking space at Alma Mater to write stories, argue, stitch magazines and drink beer. We feel pretty lucky to be there.

Who did your website?

Crews Creative. It’s pretty sweet, right? They also make most of those sexy video ads you see on our homepage and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Do you guys actually make money on this?

Just enough to pay each of us a bit above minimum wage, which allows us to work on the project full time. Each purchase you make (along with tips) helps us keep the lights on! There are also some exceptional businesses in town that help us defer the cost of our print magazine. If you like what we do you have them to thank in part.

Why is Tacoma known as Grit City?

Please see here. [We’re working on a proper story about that. In the meantime, take our word that it has NOTHING to do with boiled cornmeal.]

Where do you get your magazines printed/stuff from?

Our goal is to keep it as local as possible.Here’s where we stand currently:

We did a limited run of 253 copies for our first print edition not knowing if anyone would buy one. They all sold out in preorders. Since then we’ve argued and debated greatly about how to offer the magazine to those who heard about us a little too late while respecting the folks who jumped in to support us early on.

Here’s the plan: September 2019 is the first anniversary of our print magazine. During that month we will simultaneously release our fifth issue and a reprint of number one. It’ll be a little different than the original––we’re calling it “the bootleg edition”––but have all the same stories inside.

Got another question? Drop it in box below and we’ll see what we can do.